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SO I aquired a bank of 18 of these with a charger that I haven't fixed yet. They seemed to be in a sorry state when I got them, individual cell voltages varying from 0.02 to 0.54v.As the charger that came with is US at the moment I have split them down into three strings. Taking the two strings with hthe most electrolyte I have whacked them onto a car car charger and am now hiting about 1.54v per cell.Anybody know if these are supposed to be 2v cells or 1.5v cells. I'll ring ALCAD themselves on monday to find out from the horses mouth but thought I would check here as folk know so much.

I have a feeling you've got some ni-cads there (1.2 volts nominal), here's a link to the website - http://www.alcad.com/batteries.htmIf they are nicads, and you've got them showing that sort of voltage, you maybe in luck - cheap batteries! I'd suggest that a really good read up about the relatively "peculiar" characteristics would not come amiss - if used sympathetically, they could be great.From memory (I used to use small ni-cads in flashguns a lot), they prefer to be run right down before recharging, or they can suffer "memory" problems if just topped up, and they are capable of giving (or receiving) a lot of amps without incurring damage (if you look at the usage they get from people who use them for model car racing, they can be pretty tough!)

Many thanks after a bit of further reading it seems you're both right. I'm out of De-ionised water to top the last string up for now, but it seems I may have stumbled on a very cheap Battery. If I can get this charger that came with working then I am going to be very lucky indeed, however £150 for a 24v bank seems a bargain. Need to catch somebody going to town tomorrow to get some more fluid for them unless there is a homebrew soloution I can use?